Live Review: High on Fire - Thekla, Bristol
18th June 2024
Support: Silverburn
Words: Richard Oliver
Photos: Julian Tanner
It’s always a novelty going to see a gig at Thekla in Bristol as the venue is a converted cargo ship and there is always the joke that a heavy band will cause the venue to sink. Well one band who really do have the potential to sink Thekla through sheer sonic power are California metal machine High On Fire who hit the venue as part of their extensive European and UK summer tour.
Landing the support slot were Silverburn, the new project from Jimbob Isaac (formerly of Taint and Hark). This was my first introduction to Silverburn having seen Jimbob’s previous bands many times in years past. This was a different beast, far less stoner rock or sludge metal though retaining some elements but this had more of a hardcore energy about it as well as influences from genres such as mathcore and alternative rock. Jimbob has commanded stages for years and his stage presence is undeniable, getting huge roars of appreciation from the audience before a single note had been played.
The trio which makes up the live band were a tight unit and were afforded fantastic sound allowing the songs (taken from the band’s “Self Induced Transcendental Annihilation” album) to batter the crowd into submission. Musically it was not so much my thing with multiple shifts and time changes per song with each progression being too rapid to allow the song to stick, though the moments that the band did settle into a groove and delivered a suitably crushing riff ensured that there were plenty of nodding heads in the crowd. The band are gifted musicians and fantastic performers but just didn’t play the sort of music that appealed to my own taste. They are definitely worth seeing live if you get the chance so that you can make your own informed opinion on them.
When you see a High On Fire show you are certain of three things - it is going to be heavy, it is going to be loud and Matt Pike won’t have a shirt on. All three prerequisites could be ticked off as High On Fire kicked into their first song and delivered just under an hour and a half of crushing heavy metal. Though the focus was on this year's “Cometh The Storm” album, the trio of Matt Pike, Jeff Matz and Cody Willis ensured that there was plenty of material for the old school fans as well as the newer ones.
The set delivered a nice mix of the sludgy and doom-laden such as ‘Cometh The Storm’, ‘Sol’s Golden Curse’ and ‘Last’ to pounding blasts of relentless crushing metal which are the musical equivalent of being hit by a truck such as ‘Turk’, ‘Cometh Down Hessian’, and ‘Rumors Of War’. The band played with passion and enthusiasm which was lapped up and delivered back by the hungry audience with plenty of banged heads and spilled beer accompanied by roars of appreciation. The sound did let the band down a bit, being quite muddy from where I was positioned in the venue and with the drums being a bit too dominant in the mix.
There were moments where the subtleties of the songs were a bit drowned in the mud but other moments where it sounded just right. It could have been to do with the spot where I was standing which was quite far back and under a low ceiling but with this being a sold out show there was no way I was getting any closer to the stage than I already was. With a mix of high and low ceilings in the venue sometimes it does mean that the sound does not travel very well and can be one of the flaws of Thekla. It didn’t detract too much from the devastating performance from High On Fire and the band finished with the double whammy of fan favourite ‘Snakes For The Divine’ and the crushing doom of ‘Darker Fleece’ before taking their leave of the stage leaving a battered, sweaty and thoroughly satisfied audience to swarm the merch table and bar.
Photo credits: Julian Tanner
